Gipiir and Labongo #24

By Mugabe Victor 

Listen to your heart. That’s what they always said. I, on the other hand, always thought it was stupid. Why? Maybe because I never learnt to trust my own. 

It danced with the wind and craved things I detested. The one day we aligned, she gloated, sending butterflies through his gut in a sporadic rush driving me to nausea. I hate my heart. 

Maybe when she finally dies, I will find some solace. 

The same can not be said about the others.  They skip with every step, they laugh, they love, they crave. 

All he could feel for them was jealousy. 

His heart; he feared her cynical laughter, her strange advice and suggestions. If only he could rip her out. 

The air was electric with tension. Blood boiled, sending ripples of pain through Gipiir’s throat. 

“What are you up to?” his thoughts danced about as he stared at his brother. 

“It must be a trap,” he thought

“You can have the child if you must,” Labongo repeated, having seen the confusion in his brother’s eyes. 

“Do you think I am a fool?” 

“If I went by your demands only, yes, I would think you are a fool,” Labongo calmly replied, ” But I have known you since we were children, so I know you will make the right choice,”

The two stayed silent watching the muscle on the other’s face for some kind of hidden meaning to what had just taken place. Achola’s glare, drove spikes through the both of them. 

“He is testing me,” Gipiir thought, his chest twisting in frustration.

“Why is it that we always end up here?” Gipiir growled. His foot barely gave way to nervous tapping but he held it firm.  This is what Labongo wanted, Gipiir thought to himself,  me falling apart in front of the whole village.

He watched his brother for any signs. Hesitance, fear, pride? Nothing. He was as stiff as a rock. Jealousy, the only emotions that reigned through his mind these days. How he wished to be like that. Stoic, unmoving, strong. 

” Fine,” Gipiir thought to himself, ” I’ll bite,”

Gipiir sprang up, hovering over his brother. His bodyguards jumped to a sure attack maneuver that left the elders stunned. Gipiir stayed un flinched. A smile on the verge of ripping through his mask stayed stuffed as he watched the soldier’s reactions. Were these the same men who dared to exclude him from hunts? They now feared for his actions towards their chief. It was to be expected. Gipiir had taken ages planting the seeds for what was happening. With a little help from his lover, Adeke of course. The stories of his trials in the forest sent ripples of tension throughout Pubungu.

“You have heard him,” Gipiir started, staring into his brother’s eyes for any sign of hesitance.  “I wash my hands of any guilt that shall follow,” 

Marching off, Achola wailed, reaching out to Gipiir only to slip past him by a hair. Gipiir could hear but dared not to look. If there was any one that would break him, it would be her. Achola, his only friend. But he had to prove himself. Even after his trials in the forest, Labongo did not acknowledge him. Keeping him at a distance and barely looking him in the eye. It had gone on for far too long and Gipiir could not take it. 

Taking the chance with the child barely got a response out of the chief; and now he lay a test right in front of him. 

The memories rushed in; blinding Gipiir to the present. Labongo holding him by the shoulder just as he did when they were children, spear in hand, looking into his eyes “Courage, Gipiri. Do you want to know what true courage means?” he asked.

Gipiri’s ears perked up, his eyes dancing in anticipation. He vigorously nodded his head and a smile played on his lips.

“True courage is not that your heart does not dwell in fear. True courage is the fact that no one else should know that your heart dwells in fear.” Labongo said.

Jealousy.

If only Gipiir could do it as well as his brother could. 

In that instant,  his hair rose and the air stung as a shadow enveloped him. 

“You are running about in fear while I am left to watch you stumble about. Your form is off. You still strike with hesitance and your eyes always find a way to betray you,” a familiar voice echoed inside his head. The shadow that haunted him in the forest all those days. Somehow, its words always sprouted at the most inappropriate times. 

As though on que, the ghost’s voice was shrouded by the arrival of another memory. 

“What do you see in him?” Gipiir’s unbroken voiced echoed at the back of his mind. 

Achola smiled, her eyes barely able to hide her blushing, “Labongo is a man who protects his family and his people” answered Achola.

“Lies,” Gipiir whispered to the wind. A drastic reminder of where he was. Alone in the field. He sighed heavily as though a big burden had been cast upon his shoulders. 

His mind had not felt the same since his little trip. Down was up and up were sides, laying out memories to his beloved helped sometimes but like any warrior he always needed some time alone. That is when the nightmares always began. 

The winds roared, piercing Gipiir’s ears like a scorned child throwing a tantrum. His legs were threads in comparison to what raced after him. Nothing could compare to the fear that haunted his aching heart. His breath grew heavier with every step, sending him into an endless trance. A tunnel that knew no edge, he couldn’t stop. Not until he finally woke up. The forest wrapped around him like a mouth, howling with an empty need for his existence. A  twig wrapped around his ankle, plunging him into the somehow fluid ground.

Yes, it was the same nightmare as from the nights before; and he knew it. The only difference between it and reality was that now he knew what was chasing him. 

“Why the look?” the creature cried once face to face with Gipiir as he grasped for air, exhausted. Darkness shrouding it’s face; eyes red as death. “Are you afraid?”

“When will you finally fight me ?” the creature barked before getting into a fighting stance, Labongo’s spear in its hands. 

It was right there. The object that had twisted Gipiir’s life into whatever this was. 

Pulling himself up, his eyes stayed fixed upon his target. The glistening tip and furbished edge of the spear played upon his pupils. He was hungry for…something and it was not even clear to him. 

Bursting forward, the shadow came at him, an announcement to the dance of death. Clashing against each other, the two went at it, thrusting with every chance that either got…until…silence. 

“Gipiir!” Adeke’s voice echoed

“Gipiir!” 

A scream burst through the chaos with a sharp pain across his face. “What the?”

“I thought I told you to stop doing that!” She gasped through the tears, “It creeps me out!”

” I can’t help it,” he mumbled through his teeth, his eyes fixed upon her face in worry. 

“Did you slap me?”

“May be…a little,” she stammered, ” it’s the only thing that wakes you these days,”

Gipiir couldn’t help but look away. He was ashamed of what he had become. Grateful to an extent but still ashamed. He was the man he wished to become and yet it came with its own burdens to bear. If only that damned child hadn’t…

“What are you thinking about?” Adeke barged in. She did that too often for Gipiir’s liking. But what could he do? It was one of her most charming traits. 

“The child…”

“I think it is obvious what should be done,”

“Yes,” he replied grudgingly. She was full of herself, but she had a fondness for Achola that he could not ignore.

***

“Time flies when the world sets its eyes upon you,” Gipiir thought as he quietly watched the sunset. Everyone seemed to watch him through a side eye when they walked past him. He had made quite the spectacle this morning.  Achola watched him at a distance. Her eyes bore through his skull. She had every right to hate him and yet all she could do was angrily stare. In spite of his desire to be struck by fear, like any normal person, all he could feel was…nothing. Complete numbness to the situation at hand.

It all felt like complete nonsense in comparison to the turmoil that raged in his heart. This was not home anymore. 

On her laps sat a sobbing toddler, the size of a newly born kid. It’s small, fragile body huddled against Achola’s chest for some kind of comfort. Gipiir could not help but stare. He could barely believe that he was once as small and fragile as that. 

The Jealousy. 

If only he could turn back time to moments where he would have been allowed to feel some fear or pain.

Time had been a cruel parent to him, unlike any other. He could understand the child’s fear. How could a  moment so innocent and fun lead to all this chaos. If it hadn’t swallowed his bead, none of them would be seated at that fire. It’s tomorrow was now in his rough, hesitant hands. Inspite of Achola’s pleas, Gipiir would not take the option off his table. He had to prove himself one way or another. 

” Are you two going to stare at each other the whole night?” A familiar voice burst in. 

Labongo stood at his brother’s side, tall, bold and stoic as he always was. Perfection. 

“Have you come to a decision yet?” Labongo asked, “or are you going to make us wait another night?”

“A year,”

“What?”

“That’s how long it has taken for you to acknowledge me,”

“Is this what this is about?” 

“So condescending,” Gipiir muttered 

“If you have something to say, say it like a man,”

He always treated Gipiir like a child even without realizing it. Blood boiled in his veins turning his skin darker under the fire’s light. 

“You are still angry at me for the whole spear thing? Fine, then. I am sorry,” Labongo breathed, “But the child should not pay for my sins,”

It was just like he had always done it. The slight twitch of his eye, the shift in his voice.  Even now he was trying to imitate their father, the warrior, the leader, the thorn to Gipiir’s existence.  But what could Labongo do? Return to being the son to a dead chief? No, he had to become something else.  Something that Gipiir detested. 

The air turned too thick for Gipiir to take. With a single step, he lifted himself off the log. Making his way towards the forest’s darkness. 

“Gipiir!” Labongo shouted

His voice, falling upon deaf ears. 

“If his big head will not listen to you then it’ll have to listen to me!” Achola growled as she picked up her still sobbing child. 

“Stay here and make sure the child at least tries to defecate,”

“No!” Achola barked, “your little squabble has gone on for long enough. I am putting an end to it!”

Marching after Gipiir,  she took the child, disappearing into the darkness. 

Then there it was again…the silence before the storm. Gipiir could feel the electricity in the air, pulling at his hairs before his vision twisted away from reality.

***

And there it was again;  the darkened shadow from the forest. Eyes bright as the moon yet terrible at the same time. The red glow left a line of movement with every step as he rushed forward, pinning Gipiir to the ground.

“Pathetic” it cried as it sunk the shaft of the spear closer and closer, ” Kill that child now, you coward!”

Gipiir’s skin crawled with every touch from his surroundings.  Despite all this, the anger that wrecked through his chest would not let him pretend to be normal. 

With all his strength, he pushed back, surprising the creature. With a final thrust the thing staggered away, allowing Gipiir to gain his footing. There were a few perks to feeling nothing on the inside. Fear was a thing he had to struggle to pull forth. The one thing he knew was that he was tired of the sherad and of running away. Dragging his feet to the traditional fighting stance, and readying all his senses, he watched it closely as the darkness around its lips lifted to reveal an endless drawn smile. 

“Finally,” it growled before bursting forth.

The two stumbled about in a reckless fight for survival, stumbling about like mad men. Repeatedly,  it thrust at his ribs, making it an easier opponent.  Predictable.

Gipiir let it have a go, 1…2…3, he counted the punches before reaching out in a sudden snap at its face. With one elbow blow, it staggered back. It’s eyes finally seeing something new. It had a hesitance in its step.

Again it came forward. 

With a single swing of his fist, Gipiir had it trembling at his feet. 

His lips trembled. The adrenaline rush somehow put the life back in his bones. His muscles twitched with eagerness and his throat thirsted for the end. The end…what is the end?

A question that rattled Gipiir’s fleeting mind before he let out an animalistic scream that sent birds rushing out of his vicinity.  

“Do it!” A little boy’s voice echoed 

Gipiir looked down upon the beast, suddenly realizing that he was staring down at a younger version of himself. 

“Do it!” The little boy repeated, “Become the beast!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you are weak!” The boy cried, “The only way to win is to become the beast,”

Gipiir was left speechless.  His mind, still pumping with adrenaline grasped at straws only for the truth to reveal itself in hushed blurs,”

At his feet lay a beaten down Achola, with the child by her side. 

“We need to finish what they started, ” the boy replied, “they want us to turn into monsters, that is what will make them happy,”

His little face seemed alien even when it was so close to Gipiir. He could barely recognise the being despite knowing who it was supposed to be. 

“Who is they?” Gipiir replied 

“Father and Labongo of course,” 

Pulled out of the trance instantly,  Gipiir fell back. His jaw trembled as it ached. “What the hell was that?”

***

Labongo towered over him. His shadow casting a never ending darkness over him. In his arm, clenched and on the verge of bursting was a short ax. 

“What did you do?” Labongo growled. His eyes fixed upon Gipiir like a predator upon its prey. 

From the corner of his eye, Gipiir could see it. Too real to be a vision, he thought to himself. 

A beaten down Achola,  stranded to the darkness. How was he going to explain this?

In a single swing, Labongo missed Gipiir’s face by an inch, causing him to step back clumsily as he tried to regain his footing. As he set himself , steadying his feet, a sudden splat caught both their attention.  

They both lowered their eyes to Gipiir’s feet, revealing a bloodied bead. In a deranged shout, Labongo rushed forward, tackling Gipiir in an instant, serving blow after blow. All Gipiir could do was shield his face to it all. His mind rushing back and forth for any possibilities. “What happened here?”

There was no time to think. Thrusting to the side, Labongo was blinded by anger, allowing Gipiir to slip away. 

“Do it!” The child growled , “show him what we have learned!”

He had no choice. He would either die a murderer or get to the bottom of this. Charging like a bull, Gipiir got onto his feet, towards his brother in a massive crush. Each one going at the other. With fists clashing and bones cracking, the two continued on. The ground shook with every punch, making the forest tremble. The moment consumed Gipiir, pulling him back into the trance. The dark spirit hovered over him throwing punches over and over again. 

“Your form is off,”

“You hesitate, “

“Your fist is as soft as a feather,”

“Are you going to cry?”

“Shut up!” Gipiir shouted, lunging at his foe with a thirsty longing. This would be the last night , he spoke such nonsense.  

In a rapid flare of adrenaline, Gipiir lashed out catching Labongo by surprise. Finally recognising the dead stare in his brother’s eyes. How long had he missed it? 

The sheer resemblance between him and his brother. Is that how he looked in the middle of battle? 

The world twisted in agony, turning the forest to his side. Is this what it had come to? Sentenced to death by his brother in a state of possession? 

No. 

Labongo knew what he would do.

Dropping his guard, he surrendered himself to fate as Gipiir continued his fit in a rage. 

It felt like an outer body experience for the boy turned beast. Watching from a distance, Labongo had stopped fighting back. 

It did not make sense

Did he want to die?

Deep down Gipiir knew that the only way to stop himself would be to take control again, but that left him with an odd aching in his stomach. How was he supposed to face his brother after all that had happened.  Fate had chosen his hand. He would fight it no farther.  

“It’s scary,right?” The little boy’s voice echoed in his head, “close your eyes if it gets too much for you,”

Gipiir burst into laughter after hearing the boy’s words. “Close my eyes? How is that supposed to help?”

“You get the chance to live happily again,”

“Without my brother…or Achola? You know I did all this for him…for them,”

“No!” The boy sneered, “you did this for me, idiot,” You do not get it? All those times he ignored us, went on hunts or drives without us. Now he can see that we are strong enough! Now I can join the hunts,”

“You think they’d take you on a hunt after what you’ve done?”

“Psst, she was weak, the weak do not go on hunts,”

“But she ran to save the child from the elephant even before you did,”

The child started to stammer, his face twisted in confusion. 

“And how about how she stood up for you against the village girls,”

“But she’s not strong!”

“Clearly you are still are child,” Gipiir replied,”strength comes in different ways,”

“Liar, you just want to make me feel bad for hurting her,”

“All actions have consequences, even this, it seems you never learn. I am taking back what is mine,”

Gipiir woke up over Labongo.  His fist bloodied and aching. 

“Why did you stop?” Labongo mumbled through his swollen lip, “you finally saw it didn’t you?”

Gipiir replied with silence. Though his eyes spoke volumes. He fell to his side, both of them staring up at the sky. It’s silence deafening to the human ear. 

“Guess it will be an execution for me; you have to remind everyone that they should not act as I did tonight,”

“Yes, justice must be served one way or another”

“Then I shall pay for it,”

“Fine then,” Labongo breathed before raising himself up,  and taking the ax, casting it into the ground blade first.  The sky roared and the ground shook.

“You shall move west and I East, let me never see your face again,”

Gipiir rose up, starting his journey in a painful trudge. 

“Why!?” The boy screamed at the back of Gipiir’s mind

“Why doesn’t he love me! Why doesn’the want me?”

Gipiir smiled, taking note of the child’s words, “idiot,” he muttered to himself as he continued.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW